Sleeping Habits

Well this week was a big week for the girls because we started letting them sleep through the night rather than waking them up for feedings. Sunday night was kind of tough adjustment but ever since then it has been going very well (*knock on wood*). One thing is for sure though, our two little girls definitely have different approaches to the whole sleeping thing.

Natalie is such an angel at bed time. After her bath and then her last bottle of the day (usually finishes about 9:30 pm) she like to be held for about 5 minutes by either mom or dad and we sing a few songs and say her prayers and then she is ready to get in bed. We usually put her down when she is still a little awake, but she just lays in bed and slowly falls asleep. She is usually out by 10 pm.

Meagan on the other hand DOES NOT like bed time one bit!! Poor thing. She usually drinks her whole bottle quickly at 9 pm but then she is wide awake and ready for action. When we try to rock her she gets mad and fusses at us. She has the most pathetic whimpering fuss you have ever heard. We have been rocking Meagan for 15 to 20 minutes and when she finally calms down, we try to put her in bed. That usually lasts for 2 or 3 minutes and she is screaming at the top of her lungs again (Natalie meanwhile sleeps through all of it!). We go in and comfort her, pat her head, rub her tummy, sing to her and she calms back down, then as soon as we leave the room she goes off again. She like to play this game for about an hour, but usually wears herself out at about 11 pm and gives up. She grunts for a minute or two and that is the last we hear from Meagan for the night.

Because Meagan is our problem child getting to sleep, Natalie decides she wants to be trouble too, so she has been waking up about 4 am whining just a little. Not really loud, but just enough to wake up mom (sometimes dad sleeps through it). We usually give her a pacifer and she is content again and goes back to sleep but will wake up 45 minutes or an hour later. She does this the rest of the morning off and on. At about 7 am we feed Natalie and then we have to wake up Meagan who has been sleeping soundly through the whole night. After their 7 am bottle both girls get back into bed. Meagan usually goes right back to sleep, but Natalie will sometimes just lay there and talk to her mobile or stare at the bars on her crib or just smile. She keeps herself content until about 9 am when its wake up time for good for the day.

They are just so funny with their different personalities. Meagan is so stubborn at bedtime and really wants to fight to stay awake but once she gives in and falls asleep she is such a good girl. When we wake her up in the morning she is usually so happy to see us and she just smiles and smiles. A couple of times when Natalie has been fussy at 4 am or so, Meagan has woken up too, but she never cries or fusses when she wakes up, she just contently lays in bed and falls back to sleep.

Natalie on the other hand seems to really like to go to sleep at night. Its like she is ready for the long day to be over with so she can wake up and play some more the next day. She happily goes to bed, but then she wakes up early in the morning and is lonely and wants to play with mom or dad! We usually feel so bad for her but mommy and daddy need sleep too, and we know its best for her to develop good sleeping habits so we make her wait until 7 to get up. After her bottle at 7 she is usually wide awake and ready to go (meanwhile sister Meagan is ready to go back to sleep in the morning would probably sleep until noon if we let her - dad says Meagan has the Carter late sleeper genes!). Even though Natalie is usually awake and alert at 7am she has been a good girl to get back in bed and keep herself occupied so mommy can get an hour or two more sleep.

Well, just wanted to share the adventures with sleeping we were having this week. Its just so much fun to see the girl's have such unique personalities. They are really both starting to do things that make us realize how individual they both are. For example, Meagan just LOVES this little moving monkey that is on a bouncy chair that Cousin Cade let us borrow. She honestly could sit there and look at that monkey all day long. She laughs at it, talks to it, stares at, looks over at mommy and daddy and then back at the monkey as if to say "look at this monkey mommy and daddy!!" It is the funniest thing. She will be in her chair just a talking to the monkey then she will get so excited and start kicking her feet and laughing. Mommy and daddy just crack up laughing at her.

Here a video of just a sample: